Things to do in Agadir

Agadir is the one Moroccan city with no old town. An earthquake flattened it in February 1960. What stands now was laid out afterwards, in straight lines.

The bay and the coast north

The beach is a long crescent facing south-west, sheltered enough to swim and sunny most of the year. The water does not follow.

The Canary current holds it down. The sea touches twenty degrees at the August peak and seventeen in winter. Wetsuits are the norm all year.

• Agadir Oufella — the kasbah wall on the hill above the port, with a 1,700 m cable car up to it since 2022.
• Souk El Had — a walled market of several thousand stalls: spices, argan, second-hand everything.
• The corniche — the evening walk, the fish grills, and the whole city out after dark.
• Taghazout — the surf village twenty minutes north, with Anchor Point and a beginner beach at Tamraght.
• Paradise Valley — a palm gorge an hour inland, with pools that shrink by the end of summer.
• Souss-Massa — the park south of town, created in 1991, where most of the world's wild bald ibis nest.
• Taroudant — a walled town eighty kilometres east, sometimes called the grandmother of Marrakesh.

What the half-days are

Camels and horses go out along the river sand at dusk, past the flamingo shallows. Quad bikes run into the dunes behind the beach. A balloon lifts at dawn over the Souss plain.

Two things are worth knowing before booking. A Sahara day trip from Agadir means the dry country inland, not the great dunes. Marrakesh in a day is three hours out and three back.

Practical

• Season. Winter is the point here: twenty-odd degrees by day while the interior freezes at night. Summer stays in the high twenties rather than the forties.
• The water. Cool all year, and colder than the air leads you to expect. Swimmable in a dash, better in a wetsuit, and every surf school hires them.
• Wind. Afternoons blow hard off the ocean, which is why the umbrellas lean inland and the morning is the calm half of the day.
• Getting here. Al Massira airport is 25 km east, with winter charters from northern Europe. The coach from Marrakesh takes about three and a half hours.
• Souk day. Souk El Had shuts on Mondays and is busiest on Friday and Sunday.
• Dress. The beach strip is relaxed. The souk and the streets behind it are a working Moroccan city, and covered shoulders save you attention.